Are there any malamut owners out there who leave their dog at home during the day? I could manage two walks a day, and Im home at weekends, I have one dog at the moment (GSD cross) who doesnt mind being left to snooze in the daytime. Any comments from previous experience?

If you mean all day every day (i.e. while you're working full-time) then my answer would be - not if you want your home left intact and a sane Malamute.

Jacquie (Myatuk Alaskan Malamutes).

We can leave Hudson for about 3 hours tops before he starts going barmy :D He hates being on his own ..like all Mals I gather. He always has a WOOO when we first go out and a bit of a grumble but then settles down for a while.

If left alone too long they WILL find something to eat , pull apart , examine closely , find out how it works , test for taste (ask Jacquie there about kettles)

:)

Melody

Ours gets left for three hours a day with our GSD. This week we have lost: a pair of shoes, a Bosch drill (brand new), my daughters coat, all of the fruit in the fruit bowl etc. etc. They are staying in temporarily, as our garden fencing is being finished off over the next week or two. If we don't get them outside soon I will have no home left

Our little devils will trash the house when we are there never mind being left alone all day. :D I work only a few hours a day and the dogs are left for a maximum of 2 hours but I have lost two three piece suites!!!! They get very bored if they have nothing to do but more importantly they like company and are content even watching their owners working in the house. Mine often just lie around watching me but its the fact that I am there that matters to them.

Naomi - please email me

Kerioak

Have done :)

Our Mal is relatively good at being left, he has access to the garden most of the time(high fences) and a kennel if he fancies it.
My husband works nights so is in all day, but normally asleep in the morning, so Shadow is left to his own devices..........He seems to go through stages of being content to be by himself and then attacking anything in sight. :D
His main fetish at the moment is underlay and gripper rod! Luckily we hate our carpet and the gripper rod is mostly gone now. He also ate a very expensive Italian bag of mine yesterday (while husband was asleep!) and two pairs of my knickers!! :o I have NO idea how he got them, but if there's one thing I've learnt, if a Mal wants it, they'll find a way to get it!!
So I would say that leaving a Mal all day is not such a good idea. If we have to be out for while at the weekend or something and can't take him with us well get someone to come and check on him and play with him to stave off the bordom ;) I only have one dog, so don't know if having more than one makes if better or worse really. But they do get bored easily and can wreck anything in a matter of minutes! :) as any other Mal owner on here will tell you :D
I hope this helps.
Lou (who now has to try and tell her Mum who bought her the bag that Shad ate it - Mum does not like the the poor boy much as it is!! :D )

You CAN leave your malamute all day. Just do the following:
1. Remove all your carpets.
2. Put ceramic or similar undiggable surface on your floors (vinyl floor covering is vulnerable to teeth and claws).
3. Strip wallpaper and paint walls. I recommend a cream vinyl silk with rag rolled beige.
4. Be prepared to replace skirting boards and door surrounds on regular basis. Varnished wood is good, you can sand it down and revarnish when visitors come.
5. Put into storage all furniture you want to keep in good condition. Replace with secondhand or charity shop stuff.
6. Always have ready an excuse for the chewed wall surface. I say we are replacing blown plaster prio to redecorating.
7. Make sure that any telephone cables are well protected.
8. Keep everything else out of reach. This means ast least 6 feet above floor level, more if at all possible. If the mal wants it, a way will be found to get it.
9. Forget being houseproud.
10. Hope the neighbours are deaf, otherwise you may not be on speaking terms for long.
11. All this is definitely tongue-in-cheek, but I have suffered all the above at different times :D

Just to put in a tuppence worth, we have akitas, very similar destructive tendancies, have two other rotties so all are together whenever we are out, akita chews anything in sight when we are out, rotties just sleep, I don't think other doggie company matters to these types of dog they just want mummy and daddys company !!!. Similarly my akita will watch everything we do with great interest and can also open drawers and scatter clean underwear all over the floor during the night, she also steals my sons fluffy toys and action men whilst he sleeps and lines them up in the hallway for inspection the next day, guess the spitz breeds have alot in common !
Lorraine

Excellent list Jean ..and how true :D :D

Melody

Perhaps you might like to peruse this thread? It could probably answer the question to your satisfaction AND make you laugh. :)
My dog has eaten (so far)

Ok, I read this one! (I posted the original question) My GSD (Benji) has always been pretty good - only eaten a few books - but usually eats bits of himself - fur, paws etc as he's badly allergic & we dont seem to be able to get the treatment right to cure the itches.
We had a mal here for 2 days - she'd got away from home and chased our car down the road, so we brought her to ours till we located the owner - and she 'killed' a wooden blind and dug a large hole in a couch! But she had a really endearing personality, which is why I wanted to find out if anyone successfully leaves their mal(s) at home alone!
We dont go anywhere in the evenings any more unless we can take Benji with us, to make up for being on his own in the day. He likes company, but if we are on holiday he seems to be ready for us to go back to work after a week or so. Then he can get back to watching folk pass by the window.

sorry....chuck got your email
i was only being truthfull!!!!
although storm didnt distroy much at all i never ever left her for long on her own,only one day when we came back from shopping she had eaten both arms of the settee!!!!!
all in an hour!
and in a ten min episode in the garden dug a hole big enough to put a pond liner in and fish!!!!
dont forget if ya wanna come and meet storm your welcome!
i can show ya whats left of me lawn in the back garden!!!!!!
love steph

Isn't it odd? I find that the one day we left Hudson ALL day (we went to Waddington Air Show and it was a NO DOGS thing) he was as good as gold ..very , very pleased to see us when we got home , but hadn't touched a darned thing....then another day , I will pop upstairs to have a wash and get changed (all of 10 minutes) and the remote comtrol will have been chewed or the paper shredded or this or that ...

Odd animals Malamutes :D

Odd owners? ;)

Melody

It seems like everybody on here who has mals stays at home during the day! Is it possible that the dogs get anxious BECAUSE they've got used to having someone home all the time, then you go out? After all, some people think no dog should be left on it's own all day - but some dogs dont seem to mind! If a mal had to get used to time in the house with just other dogs, from being a pup, would this make things any easier? (Allowing for occasional minor disasters)

PS: Dont want to upset anyone with this line of questioning - Im only asking! ... :)

Well I can only answer for myself here ...but Hudson has been like this from a baby :) Mals are well known for loving their families :D

I don't think that dogs should be left on their own all day unless it is an emergency anyway and not as a regular thing...just my POV :) We live about 1 mile from town and I go to the supermarket there most days , so he does get left on his own .....for about half an hour to an hour each day.

Melody

hi karen
i have to admit i woouldnt change my wayof life or dog for anything i loovvvee mals i really do they make up for things in their own way
but they do love to be with ya all the time.....because of their loving nature being with the family and a part of the family is soo important to them,leaving a mal out of the daily family acctivities, is really upsetting to them.
a while ago eee im going back a few years! i had gsd's they eaten so many things most of my house really !! and at adult ages too!
kitchen floor settee's cane conserv suite ,back door carpets.....the lot!
i cant complain about,storm,no where near as muchas the gsd's in fact i could say she was very very good....wellmostly......!!!!
but the love you get from your malamute makes up for some of the bad things the things that really you can expect from most large breed dogs.
and at the end of the day its most important you learn about what to expectfrom a malamute....before making the final right choice
good luck love steph

Thanks to all.
Im kind of reassured by the fact that our shepherd is the softest thing you ever met, & Im sure he loves us lots. He rarely damages anything in the house even though we leave him.
But I wouldnt want a dog with a different nature to be bored all day. I'll wait a while & have a think about it!